Carlson’s First Grade Teacher: He’s Lying About Me

The Washington Post reports:

He attended the elite La Jolla Country Day School, where a woman entered his life whom he grew to detest. It was his first-grade teacher, whom he referred to in his book as Mrs. Raymond. He caricatured her as “a parody of earth-mother liberalism” who “wore long Indian-print skirts.”

“She had little interest in conventional academic topics, like reading and penmanship.” He recalled her sobbing theatrically at her desk, saying, “The world is so unfair! You don’t know that yet. But you’ll find out!”

Carlson said he just wanted liberals to “stop blubbering and teach us to read. . . . Mrs. Raymond never did teach us; my father had to hire a tutor to get me through phonics.” Thus, Carlson says, he began his sojourn as a conservative thinker, questioning the liberals who he said were all around him, exemplified by his first-grade teacher.

Read the full article. The Post has tracked down Mrs. Raymond, now 77, who says none of that ever happened, including the part about wearing Indian skirts, and in fact, she was the one that Carlson’s parents hired to tutor him. She adds, “That is the most embellished, crazy thing I ever heard.”